


A Heart’s A Home

by ailiblue



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - MAMA (Music Video), M/M, Minor Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-23
Updated: 2015-07-23
Packaged: 2018-04-10 20:55:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4407350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ailiblue/pseuds/ailiblue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>MAMA!au; Baekhyun and Jongdae are runaways who find themselves brought back to a house filled with people willing to help them if they let them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Heart’s A Home

**Author's Note:**

> Crosspost! Written for [thedaelight](http://thedaelight.livejournal.com/7590.html) for [](http://gloomvalleys.livejournal.com/profile)[gloomvalleys](http://gloomvalleys.livejournal.com/)!

  
  
  
  
There’s a knock on the window of the shop. Baekhyun looks up from the dough he's working on to see his best friend Jongdae sporting a Cheshire Cat grin from the other side of the glass. His eyes crinkle in a smile and he wipes his hands on his apron. He figures that means his shift is over. After eight hours of kneading, rolling, and repeat, Baekhyun is glad to leave for the day.  
  
He shoots a nod off to his boss who reminds him that payday is tomorrow. Not that Baekhyun could forget that. He and Jongdae would probably starve and slowly wilt away if not for this job. A slight exaggeration, but only slightly. No matter how unglamorous it was, the man was kind enough to let him work without questioning his credentials and home address, both of which he does not have. He figures the boss probably knows this. Few teens beg for work in a pizza shop in the dirtiest and most wrecked part of town. But the boss never asks, so Baekhyun never says anything. It's better this way, he thinks.  
  
He yanks his apron and cap off and stuffs it in his locker. When he comes out of the pizza shop (pizzeria being too fancy a name for the small and dirty shop), he sees Jongdae leaning leisurely on the brick wall outside. Baekhyun saunters over to him and throws an arm over Jongdae’s shoulders. He feels a jolt of electricity pass through him and the light from the lamppost near them flickers.  
  
While it is known that the area of town they were in was not the most upscale of areas, they both knew that the light suddenly flickering was not because the city lacked funds to fix it. Hurriedly, they link arms and rush away.  
  
They turn into an alley and can hear shuffling behind them. Jongdae bites his bottom lip and resists the urge to turn around to see what it is. Baekhyun feels a current go through him and turns to look at Jongdae. From the furrow on Jongdae's eyebrows, he realizes that something is wrong. Then he hears the footsteps. They are being followed. He gives Jongdae's hand a squeeze before they quicken their pace. The footsteps behind them do the same.  
  
After more twists and turns in the maze of alleyways, they manage to lose them. Whoever they were. Baekhyun thinks bitterly that it's a good thing that they knew the streets so well. Having lived on it for so long, it's not surprising.  
  
As if sensing Baekhyun's mood, Jongdae turns to him and gives him a bright smile to lighten the mood. “So how was work?”  
  
Baekhyun can only smile back at Jongdae.  
  
“Well..." he starts recounting all his bad customer stories with a big smile as they continue on their way.  
  
  
  
Upon turning the final corner to where their current apartment was, the two stop in their tracks. There were people standing outside of entrance to the apartment. Between the two of them, they have seen many strange things in this neighborhood, but the pair was stranger still.  
  
The pair, a boy and a girl, was standing directly in front of the entrance, surveying the building. The boy was about the same statue as Baekhyun and Jongdae but the girl was much smaller in comparison, her head level to the boy's chin. The strange thing was not what they were doing, but what they were wearing. The boy was in a pressed collared shirt with a cardigan slung over his shoulders and khakis while the girl was wearing a spotless white flowing dress. They were definitely not from the area.  
  
Jongdae and Baekhyun dodge into an alleyway from across the street to watch them.  
  
A boy with black spiked hair comes out of the building and approaches the two.  
  
“It looks like they're not home,” he says with a slight lilt and tilt to his head. He crosses his arms and looks at the other boy.  
  
The other boy presses his pink lips into a thin line. "But they should've been back by now."  
  
He turns to the girl with a questioning look. The girl shudders at him.  
  
“Oh gods, you're cold, aren't you?” He takes off the cardigan and offers it to her. “Sometimes I forget you're not like me and Minseok.”  
  
They both turn to the other boy with a look down towards his outfit.  
  
That's when Baekhyun and Jongdae notice that the boy is wearing a tank top with cutout sides. The sun has set many hours ago and they live in the city. It's not an entirely appropriate attire. The two shuffle closer to each other as if feeling the cold the boy should be experiencing.  
  
The boy, Minseok, Baekhyun's brain helpfully supplies, laughs softly.  
  
“We should go home before she freezes." The three chuckle at something Baekhyun and Jongdae can't quite grasp.  
  
“Alright then. We'll try again tomorrow. Jongin should be here soon to take us back."  
  
As if on cue, a burst of black smoke appears and standing in the middle of it was yet another boy.  
  
Jongdae's eyes widen and he turns to look at Baekhyun. He finds Baekhyun's mouth open, hanging dumbly. Baekhyun's eyes meets Jongdae's and his mouth opens and closes without a sound. The group starts speaking once again, so Jongdae closes Baekhyun's mouth and gestures back to the scene in front of them.  
  
However, when they turned back, the group was gone.  
  
  
  
The boys decide that breaking into their apartment was the best way to go undetected from these strangers, if there are more of them around. Not that it was actually their apartment. Baekhyun likes to call it borrowing since the place wasn't being occupied anyways. Jongdae doesn't like it, but he goes along anyway. After being on the streets, it's hard to say no to a roof.  
  
Except right now, it looks like they're back to the streets. Again.  
  
“Jongdae, hurry up. Pack all your stuff, we need to get out of here. The sooner the better.”  
  
Jongdae watches as Baekhyun zips back and forth in the small dinky apartment, stuffing what little belongings they have into an old dufflebag. Baekhyun stops when he sees that instead of packing, Jongdae is standing in a corner, fingers curling around the edge of his too-long sleeves.  
  
“What's wrong? Why aren't you packing?”  
  
“Baekhyun, this time, maybe it's different.” Jongdae says in a small uncertain voice.  
  
Baekhyun licks his lips and doesn't look at Jongdae and instead focuses on the shirt again. He looks small in that shirt, Baekyhun thinks to himself. I'll get him a better fitted shirt next time.  
  
He looks up and sees Jongdae watching him with down-turned eyebrows.  
  
Exasperated, he says, “What's so different? They're no good, and we need to leave. It's not like this is unusual for us.”  
  
“But they- they looked alright? I mean, they're unusual, but alright?”  
  
Before Baekhyun can retort, Jongdae says loudly, “We're unusual, too!”  
  
The light bulb above their heads pop.  
  
Frowning, Jongdae walks closer to Baekhyun and takes one of Baekhyun's hands into his.  
  
“We... we never talk about this anymore.” A small jolt of electricity passes between their hands. It doesn't hurt Baekhyun. It would hurt other people, but it's never hurt Baekhyun.  
  
But it could hurt other people.  
  
Baekhyun narrows his eyes, and says, “What is there to talk about? We're both frea-”  
  
Jongdae’s eyes widen and he pulls his hand away in a flash as if Baekhyun burnt him.  
  
“I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry-” Baekhyun says repeatedly, hands reaching for Jongdae. Jongdae steps back with every apology.  
  
“I'm an asshole and I didn't mean it. You're not a- you know, you're not that, Jongdae.”  
  
But Jongdae stopped listening to him. He was holding his hands together tightly, as if trying to contain them.  
  
Baekhyun can feel the room still and quiet hangs in the air. The quiet before the storm. So he throws his arms around Jongdae, dragging him down to the floor and into a hug. He presses his body close to Jongdae's, letting all of Jongdae's electricity bleed into Baekhyun. For Baekhyun, that excess energy just means more lights are turned on. For Jongdae, the consequences are much worse.  
  
For what seems like a long time, they just sit there. The quiet goes away and Baekhyun can hear screeching cars outside of their windows again. Then Baekhyun realizes that his neck is wet. Jongdae is crying.  
  
“You-“ Jongdae starts.  
  
“You- you aren't either.”  
  
Baekhyun chokes and buries his head in the crook of Jongdae's neck. His beautiful, kind Jongdae isn't a freak. He's not a menace. He's not a monster. But Baekhyun isn't so sure about himself.  
  
They stay like that for awhile longer.  
  
  
  
In the end, they decide to wait until the next day before they jump ship. Jongdae reasons that getting Baekhyun's paycheck would be helpful if they do end up running away. Baekhyun agrees.  
  
“Also... those guys... they don't seem bad. I mean... that one guy offered the girl his jacket!”  
  
Baekhyun snorts. “You mean, Mr. Beanpole catalog model?”  
  
“Yes, him! Too short to be a model but him! Bet he couldn't hurt a fly.” Jongdae grins.  
  
“Probably not but they're...” Baekhyun racks his brain for the right word. He doesn't want to upset Jongdae again.  
  
“Special? Unusual?” Jongdae offers. After a beat, his eyes light up with, “MAGICAL?”  
  
“Really? Of all the words to choose from, you go with-“  
  
Jongdae pouts.  
  
“Magical, okay, I can go with that.” Baekhyun nods loftily.  
  
“Don't be condescending, you asshole.”  
  
Baekhyun opens his mouth to reply but Jongdae interjects with hands on his hips defiantly, “Magic is real.”  
  
The reply dies on Baekhyun's smirking lips.  
  
“Don't do it,” warns Jongdae.  
  
“Fine, okay. Well these magical-,” Jongdae raises an eyebrow at Baekhyun.  
  
Baekhyun smiles sweetly back and continues.  
  
“These magical people, we have to be careful still. We don't know what they want or what they can do. They seem to have been stalking us after all.”  
  
The ends of Jongdae's lips curl and he worries the bottom lip with his teeth.  
  
“But... maybe they can help us. I mean, they probably know about our...” he gestures between themselves.  
  
“Magic?” Baekhyun helpfully supplies with a grin earning him a smack on his arm.  
  
“Yes. Our magic.” He looks at Baekhyun with sparkling, hopeful eyes.  
  
Baekhyun's breath catches in his throat and he swallows a bit before replying, “Yes, maybe they could help us."  
  
Or they could hurt us. It's not the first time that's happened.  
  
As if reading his thoughts, Jongdae comes closer to Baekhyun so that their arms are touching. The bulb that they replaced lights up overhead.  
  
Jongdae points up and says, “Look on the bright side!”  
  
Baekhyun rolls his eyes and tries to put Jongdae in a headlock.  
  
Jongdae is probably right.  
  
  
  
Or not.  
  
In retrospect, Baekhyun was completely right and they should've packed and left that night.  
  
But right now, he has to save all his I-told-you-so's for later because someone is firing shots at him.  
  
Shots of what, he isn’t sure.  
  
  
  
Earlier that morning, he woke up to noises. He turned to the boy sleeping beside him but Jongdae was sleeping like a dead man. He surveyed the rest of the apartment from atop the small bed, but everything had seemed in place.  
  
Then he heard the noise again.  
  
There were scratching noises at the door.  
  
He paused for a bit as the sleepiness melted away from his eyes. Then his blood ran cold. He recognized the sound. The scratching sounds are the same as the ones that come out of Baekhyun's lock picks.  
  
Someone was trying to come in.  
  
He remembered shaking Jongdae awake. The boy woke up with a complaint half out his lips before he saw the frantic look on Baekhyun's face. The noises from the door came louder. The person knew they were awake now.  
  
Half a minute later, they both had on their shoes and jackets and were half way out of the window onto the fire escape when the door burst open. Without looking back, the boys climbed the rest of the way out of the window and slid down the ladder. Baekhyun winced as his feet hit the ground, but he would worry about that later. Priority number one was getting as far away as possible.  
  
He had looked up and Jongdae already turned onto the street. He guessed they were going with Escape Plan A, which really was them meeting up at a park about six blocks away. Baekhyun turned the opposite direction and ran.  
  
Unlucky for Baekhyun, just as he approached the alleyway behind the apartment building, there were red-suited people waiting for him. It didn't seem like a nice type of waiting either. They all had strange looking guns out.  
  
Without missing a beat, Baekhyun knocked the nearest trash can over as he fled. A flick of his wrist and all the lights in the alleyway went out.  
  
At least it's sorta useful.  
  
But that didn't last long.  
  
  
  
Which brings Baekyhun back to his current situation. He's being shot at. Or rather, they're trying to shoot him and Baekyhun isn't sure if he's really good at somehow dodging bullets or they're all really bad shots. He doesn't pause his running to find out.  
  
As he runs towards the park with the pursuers hot on his tail, he doesn't pass by anyone who could help. Not that they would. This part of town, everyone stuck to themselves. No use putting your nose where it doesn't belong.  
  
Upon getting closer to the gate of the park, he notices that light was starting to streak the sky as the sun rose. In the darkness, it's easier to hide, but if it's daylight, that would mean a lot of trouble for Baekhyun and Jongdae.  
  
Jongdae. Baekhyun suddenly remembers that Jongdae is supposed to be around here somewhere. And Baekhyun has a whole squad of whoever they are chasing him. Baekhyun is leading them straight to Jongdae.  
  
Escape Plan B it is.  
  
He makes a sharp turn in his path and makes a beeline towards the giant play structure in the park. The best thing about being scrawny, Baekhyun supposes, is that he can still fit into all the nooks and crannies the play structure has to offer.  
  
Climbing quickly up one of the slides, Baekhyun remembers the time he and Jongdae were playing lava on the structure. Jongdae had cheated and sent a bolt while Baekhyun was climbing and he fell. He never forgave Jongdae for that.  
  
A bullet whizzes past Baekyhun’s ear and he climbs even faster. He curses all the way up. Jongdae always said that Baekhyun could never stop talking. That time, Baekhyun simply just talked louder. He’s cursing pretty loudly now. At the top, he chances a look down. A smile starts on his face as he sees grown men and women try to climb after him and falling over themselves. The moment doesn't last long as more bullets come his way. Frantically he searches for a way to lose them.  
  
He spots a low hanging branch on top of a different tower and climbs for it. More gunshots sound and suddenly Baekhyun finds his palms are sweatier than he remembered. He slips a bit on the top of the tower, holding onto the plastic steeple.  
  
Frantically he reaches for the branch but it's a bit out of his reach. Shouting comes from under him and Baekhyun knows they almost have him. A bullet finds its way through the cheap plastic underneath him and Baekhyun decides to jump for it with a yelp as a hole opens up from underneath him.  
  
His hands grip loosely at the branch but he's able to swing his legs up onto it. He quickly climbs through the branches and flees as fast as he's able to.  
  
He doesn't know how long he climbs and hops for and all he can hear is blood pounding in his ears. Eventually he sees a small clearing in the middle of the park where a community center and a large clock tower stands.  
  
He jumps down from the tree and starts running towards the clock tower.  
  
The clock says 5:59 in the morning.  
  
It's way too early for this.  
  
But he keeps running.  
  
As he gets closer, he sees Jongdae running towards him from the opposite direction, coming out of a maze. Behind him are more figures clad in red.  
  
Baekhyun reaches the door to the community center first, and tries to pry it open.  
  
“Jongdae, JONGDAE. Hurry up!” He yells.  
  
“Baekhyun, NO!”  
  
Baekhyun looks up from the door handle to Jongdae, who waves his hands erratically at him in an obscure direction. And then Baekhyun realizes that going into the community center would mean trapping themselves; a dead end. Before he’s able to turn away, someone grabs him from behind.  
  
The hands snake around his neck and stomach and Baekhyun starts kicking and screaming. If this was how they're going to capture him, he might as well cause as much damage as he can.  
  
He’s dropped to the ground face first, air knocked out of him. He turns his face to see Jongdae reach for him and he sees the red men pull out something he can’t quite make out. They point it at Jongdae and Baekhyun’s instincts kick into overdrive.  
  
He tosses his captor aside and reaches for Jongdae and turns him around so he's out of the way of the impeding attack. He hears a crack as the clock strikes six and he prepares himself for the pain.  
  
The moment before the hit takes too long for Baekhyun’s liking. The chime of the clock seems longer than usual and his body seems to be moving in slow motion. He muses that this must be where the flashbacks start happening and braces himself for the onslaught, but it never comes.  
  
All he sees is a wisp of black smoke and then pain.  
  
  
  
“And this asshole,” a tall boy with dark eyes gestures towards Baekyhun, who is on the floor nursing his head, “decides to start yipping and thumping his feet like a small animal.”  
  
The two boys he is talking to, Mr. Beanpole and Minseok, both break into small smiles at that. Jongdae snorts a bit besides Baekhyun, holding an ice pack to Baekhyun’s temple. Baekhyun feels a bit affronted. He breathes an audible hmpf.  
  
The boy ends the report, more a complaint really, with a loud hmpf of his own. Mr. Beanpole affectionately pats his neck, and Minseok gives him a half hug and mentions something about cake in the kitchen.  
  
The boy’s eyes light up and he flits away, as if on another mission.  
  
“I don’t remember there being cake...” Mr. Beanpole looks at Minseok, accusingly.  
  
He gives a noncommittal shrug. “There isn’t. I lied.”  
  
He gives Mr. Beanpole a big gummy grin which he returns. Then they both turn towards Baekhyun and Jongdae on the floor in the corner of the room.  
  
Mr. Beanpole starts.“Hey, I apologize for the way that-”  
  
”-you kidnapped us and gave Baekhyun a massive headache?” Jongdae casually offers.  
  
“Um.” Mr. Beanpole turns towards Minseok for help only to see him biting back a smile and determinedly looking into a nondescript space vaguely in the distance. Mr. Beanpole gives him a I-really-hate-you-right-now look.  
  
Jongdae looks down at Baekhyun in his lap and they mentally note the exchange.  
  
“Yes, well, we were trying to save you-” Mr. Beanpole starts again.  
  
Jongdae interjects again, “-by physically containing us against our-”  
  
Mr. Beanpole makes a sort of frustrated noise and scrunches up his face. Baekhyun doesn’t say anything and let’s Jongdae do all the talking because he’s actually enjoying the discomfort in the boy in front of him.  
  
“We didn’t mean to!” Mr. Beanpole practically wails. He then realizes how he must look because he straightens his face out quickly. The boys watch him with amusement.  
  
A cough comes from the side as Minseok finally decides to speak. “Well you know, you didn’t have to short circuit all our lights.”  
  
Mr. Beanpole gives him a That-is-not-helping look.  
  
Jongdae stiffens up a bit besides Baekhyun. When they arrived at this place, wherever they are, Baekhyun had been squirming on the ground in pain, and his magic caused the entire room to go into darkness. Jongdae had panicked. He ended up scorching half the room and apparently blowing out all the electricity in the surrounding areas. The boy that transported them disappeared with a squeak as soon as a light bulb popped and the other boy hid in a corner and wailed. It wasn’t a pretty sight.  
  
Eventually, Minseok appeared with another boy in tow and promised to help Baekhyun if Jongdae calmed down. The familar face and his quiet demeanor helped ease Jongdae. Yixing, the vacant eyed boy, was able to heal Baekhyun until all he had was a throbbing headache. Minseok created a bit of ice and wrapped it in a plastic bag and tried to put it in Jongdae’s hand. Jongdae instead loudly opted to have him drop it into his hands. The look Minseok gave him was questioning, but he didn’t say anything.  
  
Jongdae thinks he still might be holding a grudge against the little infraction by mentioning the lights but looking at Minseok’s teasing face, the thought disappears.  
  
“Accident.” Jongdae says sheepishly, hoping they wouldn’t prod any further.  
  
“Oh no, no, it’s okay, really-” Mr. Beanpole starts reassuring him with an almost too angelic a smile. He must be the PR guy around here, Jongdae thinks to himself. He gives Baekhyun a look and he knows Baekhyun agrees.  
  
Baekyhun finally not able to sit still any longer, sits upright and leans against Jongdae, resting his head on his shoulder.  
  
“So, if you could explain~” he drawls out pointedly.  
  
A voice pipes up.  
  
“I think I can help with that.”  
  
A girl smiles at them from the doorway.  
  
  
  
“As I was saying,” she continues.  
  
Baekhyun wasn't listening. He looks up to the girl speaking again. He notes to himself her black hair and red lips that turn up in a small smile. She reminds him a lot of the Snow White in his old storybook his mother used to read him.  
  
Mom...  
  
No, put that thought away, he chides to himself angrily but another glance at Snow White and Baekhyun finds himself soothed. Something about her...  
  
“We want you both to stay with us here. I think it would really be good for you both.”  
  
Mr. Beanpole sitting by her side says in a serious tone with lips pressed in a line, “It’s best to stay with people who can help. There are people out that there that would use you and abuse you. ”  
  
Baekhyun cocks his eyebrow at that. “That's a bit dramatic and did you just quote Sweet Dreams?”  
  
Jongdae laughs a little at Baekhyun because wrong lyrics, idiot. A glance at Mr. Beanpole’s serious face, and Baekhyun has to look away before obnoxiously seal-clapping for the next thirty seconds. Jongdae notices and elbows him a little.  
  
“It’s really serious. We don’t know the origins of the Red Forces,” Jongdae winces at the corny name and wonders if Mr. Beanpole was the one that coined the term, “but they’ve been after those with magic for as long as anyone can remember.”  
  
“Remember,” Snow White continues, “that there are people in the world who would take advantage of people like you for your magic.” Baekhyun doesn’t look up, but he has a feeling she’s referring to him. How she knows, Baekhyun can’t begin to guess. It irritates him a bit.  
  
“Why should we believe you? Why should we stay with you? How do we know you’re not like everyone else, out to make something out of us?,” he spits out before he realizes what he’s saying.  
  
He can feel all the eyes in the room staring at him and belatedly realizes he had slammed his hands on the table and stood up. The lights are also flickering widly. He closes his eyes and tries to control his breathing. Jongdae’s hand finds its way into his and he grasps it. He opens his eyes to see Snow White watching him carefully. He looks at her soft eyes and finds the lights in the room have stopped.  
  
“Sorry, I-” Baekyhun doesn’t know how to finish the sentence so he quickly sits back down. Jongdae gives his hand a squeeze.  
  
“We can help you control your powers, ” Minseok offers from where he’s leaning against the wall with one foot. He says this directly at Jongdae and Jongdae’s eyes widen and he quickly lowers his eyes.  
  
“Control them and at the same time, you’ll be with people who can help you figure out what you want to do in the future.”  
  
Before Baekhyun can interrupt, he adds, “So you don’t have to keep running.”  
  
And with that both boys suck in a breath. It seems that while Baekhyun says a lot, he doesn’t mean much, but Minseok is the opposite. He says little but enough. He hit the mark.  
  
Baekhyun looks down at the trembling hand in his and knows that this is what Jongdae has always wanted. Control. A place where they can stay. To stop running. And Jongdae looks at Baekhyun and Baekhyun can’t say that he doesn’t want it too.  
  
Jongdae takes the initiative and says, “Okay.”  
  
For once, Baekhyun doesn’t say anything.  
  
  
  
After the initial awkwardness, Mr. Beanpole, or Junmyeon as he introduced himself, disappeared to handle some other matters, while Minseok trailed behind him silently. Before leaving however, Junmyeon insisted on giving both boys a welcome hug, one that Jongdae vehemently rejected much to Junmyeon’s chagrin. Minseok went with a pat on the shoulders for both boys, not even drawing back when Jongdae accidentally zaps him. He just smiled his small smile and went on his way.  
  
After they leave, Snow White turns to the boys, with a slight blush on her face.  
  
“I just realized, I never introduced myself. Throughout that whole conversation, not even once.” Her soft voice trails off at the end, and both boys balk.  
  
Hurriedly, they introduce themselves, and Snow White smiles a bit and says, “I’m Juhyun. It’s nice to meet both of you finally.”  
  
Before they can ask her what she meant by “finally”, another girl shows up in a white lab coat and a ponytail.  
  
“Juhyun, are these the newbies?” Her cheeks bunch up as she smiles at them.  
  
“Ah, yes this is Jongdae and Baekhyun. This is Seulgi, she’s the head of our research department.”  
  
Before Baekhyun can say anything, Seulgi proudly announces, “Yes I am! I am the youngest department head in the program with two PhDs to boot!”  
  
Baekhyun’s eyes widen. “You- you went to college?”  
  
“Yep! A lot of the older kids in the program helped me with my magic and my studies when I joined and then Junmyeon knew I wanted to do it, so he help pay for my tuition.”  
  
Baekhyun smiles bitterly. He used to be excited about school before he left. Now the idea seems far fetched. He looks back to see Seulgi smile back at him, with an encouraging expression. He doesn’t understand it so he turns to Juhyun.  
  
Juhyun smiles as well. She pats Seulgi’s hand and asks, “Will you show them somewhere to rest? I think they’re both really tired-”  
  
“It’s ten in the morning!”  
  
”-from all the events and information.”  
  
“Oh.” Seulgi smiles again and says, “Of course!”  
  
She starts to lead them off before Juhyun stops her with a hand on her arm.  
  
“Seulgi, has there-” Her voice grows ever more soft. “Has there been any changes in his condition?”  
  
Seulgi’s smile falters a bit. “No, but I’m sure we’re getting closer. Don’t worry!”  
  
With a small nod, Juhyun waves goodbye to the boys and floats away around a corner.  
  
After a beat, Seulgi excitedly turns to the boys and marches them down a half lit corridor to the rest of the house.  
  
  
  
“I have a file in my office with all the room assignments, so we’ll have to take a detour. Sorry!”  
  
And so Seulgi leads them past many rooms, pointing out the function of each. Finally they reach the wing that Seulgi that works in.  
  
The hallway looks to be the same as all of the other ones they have passed but a few steps down the hallway and Jongdae stops. A glass window shows them a white room with many large tubular chambers. In one of them was a skinny blond man who seemed to be sleeping.  
  
“What is this room?”  
  
Seulgi worries the bottom of her lips. “Well, it's a bit hard to explain.”  
  
“Give me the simple version?”  
  
Jongdae was getting a headache from all of Seulgi’s explanations thus far. What he would call a greenhouse with some trees near it, she had called a conservatory with an arboretum. Jongdae wasn’t really in the mood for more fancy words.  
  
After a pause, “In a language that we both speak, please” because Jongdae is still not sure what a washitsu is.  
  
“Well, it's a sort of chamber that has slower time in it.”  
  
Baekhyun turns to her in disbelief, “Excuse me? How is that possible?”  
  
“Well you see those specks?” She gestures towards the small particles moving in the chambers that escaped their notice before. “They're Sands of Time.”  
  
“What.”  
  
“Sands of time.” She said again as if it was completely obvious. Her brows knot a bit before she continues.  
  
“Tao made it up. I know it’s a bit dramatic but… anyways, we managed to extract his time control properties and condense it into little particles-”  
  
“You do what?” exclaims Baekhyun. In an instant, the lights in the vicinity start to rapidly dim and he has an arm around Jongdae. “You stay away from us.”  
  
“No, no, no-“ Seulgi frantically shakes her head and puts up both her hands up. “We don't test on you or anything! Tao volunteered after he discovered he could isolate his abilities to an enclosed area. Really! Believe me! Testing on people is the last thing we want to do! We not going to make you test subjects, I promise!”  
  
She searches Baekhyun's eyes for understanding and sees hardness. She then turns to Jongdae. He worries his bottom lip and gives a little tug at Baekhyun's shirt.  
  
“Come on, I'm sure it's not that bad."  
  
Baekhyun turns to give Jongdae an incredulous look but seeing his smile, he relents. However he keeps his arm around Jongdae still.  
  
Suspicious, he asks, “So what does it do? These ‘Sands of Time’?”  
  
He rolls his eyes at the name. “Dramatic” doesn’t cover all of it.  
  
Seulgi hesitates and Baekhyun can see her mentally choose her words.  
  
“The Sands of Time slow down the passage of time within the enclosed space so we have time to...” She gestured towards the air, her sentence left unfinished as she looks over at the man inside the chamber.  
  
“Time to what?” Jongdae asks after a moment.  
  
Seulgi shakes her head and sighs. “Time to figure out how to heal you. Bring you back.”  
  
Jongdae's head snaps from Seulgi to the man. This man isn't sleeping. He's hurt somewhere. Unconsciously he grips at Baekhyun's hand and receives a squeeze back. Baekhyun looks back at Jongdae and Jongdae gives him a half smile.  
  
If Seulgi notices, she doesn't push. She merely continues down the path to her office down the hallway. The boys follow her in silence.  
  
  
  
Eventually, they reach Seulgi’s office where she finds the room assignments. The boys find themselves standing in a hallway in front of adjacent rooms with the one dufflebag Jongdae brought along that somehow miraculously survived the events of that morning.  
  
They both stand there waiting for the other to move. Baekhyun knows they’re both tired, Jongdae especially after releasing all that electricity earlier, but he can’t find it in himself to separate from Jongdae. Eventually, Jongdae tugs on Baekhyun’s hand and leads them both into one of the rooms where they both collapse onto the small bed and promptly fall asleep.  
  
  
  
Jongdae wakes up first with a shock. He feels Baekhyun’s arms wrap around him tighter, pulling him closer. Jongdae lays there and calms himself down from his nightmare while taking in the unfamiliar surroundings.  
  
He had dreamed of being lost and alone again. Running around mindlessly and finally losing ground.  
  
But awake, he knows he’s not alone, especially with Baekhyun around.  
  
Jongdae watches Baekhyun’s face a little bit longer before the holes on Baekhyun’s collar catch his attention. His heart squeezes a bit at the sight. He looks down at his own shirt and realizes his own sleeves have holes in them as well. He’s surprised he didn’t burn the clothes off his back earlier. He escaped with just some holes, but he still frowns.  
  
It’s his favorite shirt. Baekhyun gave it to him.  
  
Back then, Jongdae was by himself, wandering aimlessly around the city. He had never been left on his own before. At first, he tried to stay at an orphanage, but the circumstances of his appearance raised questions. They especially didn’t understand why he avoided physical contact. They wanted to send him to therapist at a nearby hospital. He couldn’t have that. So, eventually he left there too.  
  
Somewhere along the way, he managed to work a manhole open and he stayed in that particular sewer and only went out at night to avoid contact with people. Back then, he was more of a danger to people than he was now. Even now, he wasn’t all that great.  
  
One night on a particularly cloudy day that promised of rain, Jongdae ventured into a nicer neighborhood than he was used to. He had burnt holes into all of his two shirts and he knew that it would get much colder, especially in the sewers where the air chilled to the bone. He was against stealing but he was desperate.  
  
Walking quietly, he spotted a house whose owners left their clothes out on a drying line outside. He thought that if someone left their clothes out at night, they would probably just think that it was blown away or something. It couldn’t be that important to them if they forgot about it, he justified to himself.  
  
But as he climbed over the fence, he realized that he was too late. Someone else was already stealing the clothes. A boy about his height had them in his arms and was about to get away. He let out an indignant squawk because those were the clothes Jongdae was about to steal!, and suddenly the lights on the porch lit up. He heard footsteps and braced himself to getting caught when a hand grabbed his and suddenly he was dragged over a fence and down several streets until they both stopped running.  
  
Leaning against a brick wall in an alleyway, Jongdae tried to calm down. It had started raining and an excited Jongdae brimmed with electricity and this boy had just grabbed his hand as if it was nothing and-  
  
“What the hell, man! You almost got me caught!” The other boy snapped at him as he brushed the bangs from his eyes.  
  
“I’m- You,” Jongdae couldn’t get his words out.  
  
The boy continued with his tirade.  
  
“I’m you what, you idiot. I don’t know how you get away with anything if you’re letting out loud ass nois-”  
  
But he was interrupted by Jongdae’s hiccups and eyes that have started watering. Looking back, Jongdae flushes at the memory, though he’ll never admit to that version of the story. At least, not in front of Baekhyun.  
  
“Whoa, whoa, no, wait, don’t cry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, oh my god, you, hey, here have this shirt, you wanted it right?”  
  
And in one fell swoop, a pink shirt was pulled over Jongdae’s head and his arms were being pushed into the sleeves. Baekhyun thought Jongdae smiled through his tears because he got the shirt. Jongdae smiled because there was this stranger who touched him like he was another person. A person and not something else. Once the shirt was on, he looked up to a smiling Baekhyun, and Jongdae’s smile grew wider because he never knew there could be a boy who smiled at him like that.  
  
Jongdae flushes even more at the memory. The shirt isn’t a nice pink anymore. It’s more orangey now, but it’s still Jongdae’s favorite shirt.  
  
He turns his head so he could look at Baekhyun’s sleeping face again and smiles. Baekhyun had wanted to ditch Jongdae at first, but they kept running into each other. Eventually, Baekhyun let Jongdae stay with him, but Jongdae thinks he probably wanted him around and he probably won’t ever let him go and he’s glad.  
  
  
  
The next morning, Junmyeon wakes up the two boys and herds them into the cafeteria. After only briefly walking past the doors to it the day before, Baekhyun’s surprised to find out that it’s really more of a converted ballroom with a high ceiling and a wall comprised mainly of large windows leading to a garden.  
  
On second thought, Baekhyun muses that he shouldn’t have been too surprised seeing as how the place they’re staying at is really a large mansion of some sort. Or a castle. He can’t really be sure because he’s yet to actually step outside since he got there. But before he ponders some more about how this all came about, his stomach growls and he turns to find that Jongdae is already leading the charge on the buffet line. Typical.  
  
When he walks towards the line to join Jongdae, he feels eyes follow him. A quick glance around the cafeteria and he notices that it seems the entirety of the people there are watching them. He walks quickly over to Jongdae who seems to be deciding between bacon and sausage.  
  
Except that he isn’t.  
  
His grip on the plate is iron-clad and his face is a bit pale. Baekhyun can almost see the cold sweat on Jongdae and hear the electric current buzzing just underneath his skin. So he nonchalantly runs a finger down Jongdae’s arm to his hand and grabs a plate from a nearby stack and decides that they’ll eat bacon.  
  
Jongdae bites down on his bottom lip and glances at his plate.  
  
“Yeah, bacon is a good choice,” he says with a slight quiver and gives Baekhyun a grateful smile. They move on to the other platters as Junmyeon waits for them. By the end of the line, Baekhyun is only a little bit ashamed at the small mountain on his plate and it’s really only because Junmyeon is staring at their plates with an slightly opened mouth.  
  
Junmyeon presses his lips together lightly and sighs.  
  
“Orange juice, I’ll get you two some orange juice. Vitamin C is good for you.”  
  
He leaves them standing there while he heads over to grab them some juice. Jongdae stays close to Baekhyun’s side and determinedly avoids looking out at the rest of the cafeteria. Most people had gone back to chattering amongst themselves, though a few glances their way notwithstanding.  
  
Baekhyun unabashedly watches the crowd. He spots Minseok in a corner at table by himself and nudges Jongdae.  
  
“Look, it’s Minseok over there with the bright ass orange beanie.”  
  
Jongdae looks up and searches for Minseok and smiles when he sees him. Baekhyun thinks to himself how Jongdae seems to take a liking to Minseok. He finds himself pouting a bit at the idea.  
  
Junmyeon comes back and ushers them towards Minseok’s table. When they get closer to the table, Junmyeon abruptly quickens his pace and sits down next to Minseok, leaving the chairs opposite them for Jongdae and Baekhyun. The two look at him with confusion before sitting down.  
  
With a slight blush, Junmyeon tries to explain before someone comes along and pulls him out of the chair and drags him away across the cafeteria. It happens so fast, the three at the table can only stare after him.  
  
“That happens a lot. He’s somewhat of an authority figure so he’s always dragged off to do business stuff,” Minseok offers.  
  
Jongdae cocks an eyebrow, “Is that why he wanted to sit down so badly?”  
  
“That? Ah no. That’s something else.”  
  
And he pauses a bit with a hum on his lips before speaking again.  
  
“He’s a bit afraid of you sitting too near, I suppose.”  
  
Baekhyun’s mouth drops at the bluntness and immediately reaches for Jongdae’s hand. But Jongdae sits stiffly, not grabbing back.  
  
Minseok notices and nonchalantly says, “You’re an electric user and Junmyeon is water. It’s only natural.”  
  
What Jongdae notices that he doesn’t say is that Minseok’s ice is also an extension of water. Junmyeon doesn’t want Jongdae to hurt him or Minseok. And he’s absolutely right. Jongdae is a hazard to everyone. It’s pretty stupid to think that he could make friends with anyone if all he does is-  
  
“But I think he worries too much. After a little training, you’ll be golden.” And Minseok reaches over to pat Jongdae’s hand. Baekhyun can see Minseok wince a bit, but he doesn’t say anything.  
  
“SO,” Baekhyun says loudly enough to distract anyone within a five foot radius. “What do you guys for training?”  
  
He wants to distract Jongdae from his thoughts and he was genuinely curious. With a bright smile, he stage whispers, “Do you guys recite spells from magic books or something?”  
  
He beams up at Minseok who offers him a small smile and “I think they did that in some cultures-”  
  
Baekhyun’s eyes widen and he exclaims, “Wait, what?”  
  
Minseok crooked smile is all he gets in return.  
  
Jongdae’s foot taps Baekhyun’s under the table as if to say, See! I told you so!  
  
Baekhyun can’t believe his luck. Jongdae was right.  
  
  
Junmyeon comes back soon after, much to Minseok’s relief. After, there is a barrage of questions from the two boys where Junmyeon confirms that: “Yes, magic books can exist if you imbue magi- yes, magic wands exist too, if you really wanted to- yes brooms can be made to fly, you just have to- Please let me talk Baekhyun- Yes Jongdae, there are magical creatur- No the Leviathan doesn’t exist anymore Baek- No, Jongdae, Pikachu isn’t- Minotaurs are real, ye- Minseok, please help me ou- Wait where are you going- No soccer is not a goo- Come back here, Minseok!- Why are you two grinning like that, it’s creepy, plea-”  
  
“Ahem.”  
  
The three boys at the table turn to the voice.  
  
“Am I interrupting something?” Juhyun smiles sweetly at them with her own plate of food, taking Minseok’s seat.  
  
“Nothing~” the two boys chirp at her while Junmyeon frowns.  
  
“They’re asking me questions about magic.” He gives her a Please-help-me-out look.  
  
“Oh? That’s a very broad topic.” She looks at the boys who look away with guilty smiles on their lips.  
  
“Training!” Baekhyun announces as he recalled how the conversation started.  
  
“Oh that. Hm, Baekhyun, you’ll go with Juhyun later and I’ll take Jongdae.”  
  
Jongdae’s eyes narrow and he is about to question the choice but stops himself. Why would Junmyeon take him if he’s afraid of him?  
  
Baekhyun looks worriedly at Jongdae and back at Junmyeon who seems to be observing Jongdae closely. He clears his throat and asks, “Why can’t we train together? I mean... you and Minseok are almost the same element, maybe Jongdae and I are too?”  
  
“Well...” Junmyeon opens his mouth, closes it, worries it, then asks, “How did you know Minseok and I are the same element?”  
  
“Well he said you were water and he’s ice so I just assumed?”  
  
“Right... well you’re right about that. And you’re also right about the other thing. You two are the same element, it seems, but Jongdae’s magic is... much more raw than yours. His magic is closer to nature and I think it’s better if he trained with someone whose magic complements his.”  
  
The word “complements” stings Baekhyun a little but all he does is nod and look down as his plate. “I see.”  
  
Juhyun interrupts with, “Also we don’t know the extent of your own magic Baekhyun, so we want you to work with someone that’s similar to you but not entirely so.”  
  
She gives him a look like she knows something and Baekhyun finds it hard to swallow. He looks over to Jongdae for backup but he’s in his own world, staring intently at his bacon but not really seeing.  
  
“Right, well that’s settled, I think you two had enough food, so let’s get going, yeah?”  
  
Junmyeon says it like a suggestion, but his smile doesn’t quite reach his eyes.  
  
The boys follow the two out of the cafeteria silently.  
  
  
  
They separate at the end of a long hallway, with Juhyun leading Baekhyun to a staircase that lead into the ground. Baekhyun forlornly gave Jongdae a last look and an attempt at a reassuring smile. Except even he wasn’t sure what was going to happen.  
  
Junmyeon gives Jongdae a smile of his own and quickly gestures outside. They walk for a while in silence until they reach a neat dirt plot. There, Junmyeon leads Jongdae over to a boy around his size with impossibly round eyes and pouty lips to go with it. The boy stops his stretches to greet them.  
  
The older boy gestures to him, “This is Kyungsoo. You'll be working with him.”  
  
Jongdae lets out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. He thought he would be working with Junmyeon and had dreaded it but this situation doesn’t look anymore promising.  
  
Jongdae looks the other boy over again and his eyebrows furrow. He hadn’t expected to be working with someone quite so small. Jongdae could easily hurt him, he thinks. In a small worried voice, he asks, “Can he... handle me?”  
  
Kyungsoo scoffs. “Who do you think you are?”  
  
Junmyeon smiles a little and says, “Kyungsoo mainly deals with earth magic so I think it should be okay.”  
  
Earth...  
  
Jongdae’s eyes widen and he turns swiftly to Junmyeon, “Wait. Earth?”  
  
Junmyeon laughs, “Primarily earth magic, he has some other latent magic too, but yes earth.”  
  
This time Junmyeon’s smile does reach his eyes. He looks hopeful. Jongdae feels it a bit too.  
  
  
  
“Why are we in the basement?” Baekhyun whines. “Also why is your basement so fancy?”  
  
Juhyun simply smiles at him and laughs lightly.  
  
“This is the only place with concrete strong enough to handle small fires.”  
  
“Fires?”  
  
Before Baekhyun can probe further, a large body clasps around him and he turns to see a smile that could be in toothpaste commercials.  
  
A low, booming voice comes from behind the teeth.  
  
“EH HEY!”  
---  
  
  


Jongdae ends the day with multiple bruises but also with a giddiness that Kyungsoo couldn’t understand. Baekhyun has a couple of strands of singed hair, but the ache on his face from laughing so much made up for it. When the four meet up for dinner later that day, Joonmyeon almost thinks it was a bad idea to introduce them to each other. 

A couple of weeks later and he thinks they almost fit too well together. Juhyun thinks it’s good that they both seem to less wary of the others in their ragtag company, winning everyone over with their charm. Minseok just thinks they’re a bit too loud. 

The boys still share the same room, but no one bats an eyelid. At the end of every day, they lie next to each other and talk about their day. 

Everything is good, except that Jongdae seems to be moving forward, and Baekhyun isn’t so sure about himself.

Though both of them have made the same friends, Jongdae is inexplicably closer to Minseok than Baekhyun is to anyone else there. The more control Jongdae has over his magic, the more Baekhyun feels like he will be left behind. The distance between them on the bed seems to widen everyday, and Baekhyun is afraid only he sees it and only he feels it.

 

One particular day, Baekhyun stomps out of training after Chanyeol accuses him for the umpteenth time that “you can’t possibly only turn lights on and off” and “why don’t you ever talk to me” and Baekhyun isn’t in the mood for it. He leaves Chanyeol and his flaming wings behind.

He searches for Jongdae at lunch, but Kyungsoo tells him that Jongdae and Minseok are hanging out in the greenhouse. Baekhyun frowns at that.

Kyungsoo raises and eyebrow and says, “Why don’t you bring some iced coffees to them?”

Before Baekhyun can indignantly refuse, he says, “So you can spend time with them and stop being a jilted lover.”

Affronted with no words to say, Baekhyun simply grabs the coffee and leaves with a huff.

 

“You should probably try washing it with like colors. I don’t think washing it with your black jeans will help the orange,” Minseok says stretching his legs out from where he is seated beside Jongdae on a random bench.

Jongdae frowns slightly and whines, “It’s supposed to be pink.”

They both laugh.

Jongdae and Minseok originally met up so they could talk about Jongdae’s progress, but soon after that topic was over, they naturally ease into other topics. Mostly mundane everyday chatter, but Jongdae is glad to talk to Minseok. 

After sitting in a comfortable silence for some time, Jongdae says, “Thanks.”

“Hm?”

“I- I figured I should say it at least once. You’ve all done so much for me and Baekhyun. And you even bother to listen to me talk about stupid little things like this so... thanks.”

Minseok laughs. “You’re both very welcome, especially you.”

Jongdae turns to look at Minseok, “Me?”

Minseok hums to himself for a bit then replies, “Yeah. Sometimes I feel like you could be my real younger brother, so I don’t mind.”

Jongdae gushes to himself and with a wide grin says, “Really? Is that okay?”

“What?”

“For us to be brothers?”

Minseok’s eyes are looking into the distance but he still hums affirmatively.

“I…”

Jongdae wonders if it’s okay to tell Minseok. He stares off to the side and thinks, well why not.

“You know, my last brother…” Jongdae hesitates and glances over at Minseok. He’s still looking into the distance, but his eyes are focused. Jongdae knows he’s listening.

“Before I met Baekhyun, before I was on the streets, I had a family.”

Jongdae can see the corner of Minseok’s mouth go up slightly. He soldiers on.

“It was me, mom, dad and my older brother.” He counts them off his fingers. His family used to have four people.

“My older brother- He uh- he used to pick on me a lot.” Minseok grins.

“But no one else was allowed to. The other kids would somtimes pick on me, but he’d always defend me.”

“My family- they- they knew about my magic and they still loved me. Mom used to even read me stories with characters that had lightning powers. Heroes that wielded lightning. I used to think I would be like that someday.”

They both laugh at that. 

“And?”

Jongdae worries his bottom lip. “One day a kid at school found out about my powers and-” 

Minseok closes his eyes and Jongdae runs through the rest of his sentence, “I was taken out of school.”

“My mom quit her job to homeschool me for awhile but as I grew older, I- I couldn’t control it.”

Minseok nods once, as if he expected that.

“I- I hated it and I- I really wanted to be outside instead of staying home all the time.”

Minseok leans forward and rests his elbows on his knees, his hands loosely clasp together. They both know how the story ends.

But Jongdae feels like he should finish.

“I went out by myself one day, after distracting my mom. I only wanted to go to the corner store for some ice cream but-

“I ran into some kids…

“I didn’t mean to- I- I was scared and-” Jongdae chokes on his words a bit. Minseok grabs his hand and holds it. Jongdae doesn’t notice that Minseok’s hand is frosted over.

“In the end, I… I ran away. I knew it was bad so I- for everyone’s own good, I-” Tears start to stream down his face and Minseok pulls him in for a hug.

In the corner of his eye, Minseok sees a retreating figure near the entrance of the greenhouse. He closes his eyes and sighs.

After a little while, Jongdae stops crying and pulls back and smiles.

“But I met Baekhyun.”

 

The lights are flickering wildly again as Baekhyun walks quickly away from where the greenhouse is. Seeing Jongdae and Minseok in an embrace is the last thing he needs right now.

He barely stops himself from running because alerting people is not what he wants. There is no problem here. No problem.

He finds himself turning the corner back to the cafeteria, but halts. He sees Chanyeol and Kyungsoo laughing together and he can’t bring himself to join them.

He doesn’t think it’s fair that they’re having a good time while he’s in pain.

Wait, no.

There’s supposed to be no problem.

His heart is beating fine, he thinks. Probably.

To be sure, he backs out of the room and speed walks away. He doesn’t see Chanyeol stand up to go after him or Kyungsoo stopping him from doing so.

 

Everywhere he goes, there are people laughing and smiling and he can’t stand it.

Unaware, he find himself at the infirmary. After a couple moments, he decides he can’t deal with anyone right now and hides himself behind the sleeping man’s capsule. He wants to be alone but not completely alone. At the very least, the sleeping man can’t make him feel worse.

And so Baekhyun sits there for a long while before one of the nurses, Sooyoung he thinks her name is, comes in to check on the sleeping man. He flattens himself against the side of the bed to keep out of sight.

He hears her bright voice exclaim, “Ah, that’s weird. The lights have gone out! Juhyun, are you trying to scare me again?”

Juhyun’s softer voice answers with a laugh, “For once, it wasn’t me.”

Baekhyun didn’t think Juhyun looked the type to be a prankster but he supposes that looks can be deceiving. I wonder what else they’re all hiding from me.

“Anyways, it looks like his condition is still the same, but the monitor seems to have frozen. Look, the time is off by 10 minutes.”

Baekhyun wonders how long he’s been sitting in the room for.

“Probably has to do with the power.”

“Yeah, I’ll go check to see if I can reset the power or something. Are you going to…?”

Baekhyun sneaks a glance around the corner to see Juhyun nod and Sooyoung smile sadly at her before leaving.

He goes back to hiding but he can hear her light footsteps come nearer to the bed. The floor screeches as Juhyun pulls a chair over to sit by the side of the bed.

There is silence for along time.

“So,” she says, “Baekhyun, why are you hiding here?”

Why are you upset?

He stays silent. He’s not sure how she knows he’s there and he’s not sure what to tell her, so he stays silent. 

After what feels like an eternity, he hears her get up.

Don’t go, a part of him wants to say.

No, leave like all the others, another part of him shouts.

Amongst the war in his head, he notices a movement to his right. Juhyun comes around the side of the bed and sits down next to Baekhyun on the cold hard floor. She hugs her knees to her chest and doesn’t say anything to Baekhyun.

Baekhyun doesn’t look at her and focuses on the wall. Except that his vision gets blurry and his raging mind makes it hard for him.

He decides he wants to talk to Juhyun, but he doesn’t know what to say. For someone that speaks as much as Baekhyun, he surprises himself by not finding a single word to convey his feelings.

In the recesses of his mind, he can’t seem to find a starting point.

Does he tell her about what he saw? About his argument with Chanyeol? About the time before he and Jongdae came to them? About the time before that? About the beginning?

Does he tell her about the loneliness he feels even surrounded by everyone here? Is he allowed to tell her that?

Is he allowed to tell her about how he feels left behind? How he expected it but how it still hurts?

Does he want to tell her about the people that he left behind? About his own mother and his own brother?

Jongdae can tell Minseok things, but can Baekhyun tell Juhyun?

He bites his lips and opens his mouth but no sound comes out. He tries again and the only thing that moves is his hand gesturing strangely into the air. He tries to focus again but belatedly he realizes that his vision has blurred completely. He’s been crying and he didn’t even notice.

He feels Juhyun place a hand on his head and he starts to choke. “Jongdae.”

“Minseok.”

And he can’t continue. Juhyun doesn’t ask him to.

She lets him rest his head in her lap as she pets his hair gently.

“It’ll be okay,” she whispers.

Her reassurance and warmth reminds him of his childhood before everything happened. For awhile, he pretends it’s his mom’s lap and this is home. For awhile, he allows himself to close his eyes and believe her.

Later on, after he calms down, he thanks Juhyun for everything and goes back to his room to nap, exhausted from his emotions.

Juhyun stays behind to sit with the sleeping man for a bit. She notes to herself the lights that returned after Baekhyun left and the time on the monitor that starts running again.

How curious.

 

For reasons Jongdae can’t figure out, Baekhyun starts spending more time in his designated room. At first, he doesn’t say anything. Junmyeon takes it as a sign that they’re becoming more independent of each other and it’s a good thing. Minseok comments that Baekhyun reminds him of Junmyeon from a long time ago. Junmyeon’s eyes widen in understanding and coughs his way out of the conversation. Minseok follows without explaining to Jongdae.

Jongdae brushes it off until one day Baekhyun’s not sleeping with him anymore. He makes the excuse that he’s tired from training and just sleeps on whatever bed he happens to see first. It doesn’t explain the locked door though. 

Jongdae decides to talk to Baekhyun about it, but everytime he approaches Baekhyun, he’s either talking to Juhyun or arguing with Chanyeol.

It’s always the same argument.

“Why is Jongdae getting better at his magic and you haven’t changed at all?” Chanyeol stabs a fork in Baekhyun’s direction from across the dinner table.

Baekhyun rolls his eyes, “What improvement were you expecting? I can only do lights!”

“I refuse to believe that you’re only a human light switch.”

Kyungsoo mutters under his breath something about “that’s the only light bulbs that turn on”, but Baekhyun can’t really hear him. To cover his bases, he decides to poke Kyungsoo anyways.

Kyungsoo almost attacks him but Chanyeol cuts him off saying, “Really though, I think-”

“Can we talk about something else?” Jongdae snaps. 

Kyungsoo’s eyes widen a bit and he changes the topic to Jongdae. “You know, before when you got irritated, we’d all get static shock from our utensils.”

Jongdae blushes at the mention.

“If you get a bit better, you could probably leave the house soon.”

Jongdae sputters in disbelief. “What?”

“You could do field work-”

“Like farming?” Baekhyun pipes up. Kyungsoo smacks him before continuing.

“Like seeking out other kids like us. Runaways. You could help the field team find and protect these kids before the Red Forces take them.”

Baekhyun stops with a fork in the air. “Wait, you guys are runaways?”

Chanyeol rolls his eyes, “Yeah, if you bothered to ask, you’d know our tragic backstories.”

“Uh I-”

“Stop interrupting me, Baekhyun!” Kyungsoo smacks him again.

“Anyways, you can probably join the field team. Since your magic is electric, you could probably use it to blow up their circuits or mess with their radio system or something.”

“Oh, I never thought I could use it for anything other than.... um-”

Jongdae stutters, unsure of how to finish the sentence, when Baekhyun interrupts.

“Wait, how did you guys find me and Jongdae then?”

Kyungsoo rolls his eyes. “Junmyeon.”

“What about him?”

“He bought pizza from you once and noticed you were different.” Baekhyun raises an eyebrow.

“He has a good feel for these type of things.” Chanyeol says. “Also he stalked you for like a month and caught you turning off the lights in the park.”

“Oh my god. I-” Baekhyun puts his head on the table. “Cause of me. All this because of me. I thought I was doing so well too.”

“But it’s a good thing right?” Jongdae laughs. “Now we’re here and everything is good, right?”

Baekhyun opens his mouth and then closes it. He then simply answers with a hum. Jongdae looks right at Baekhyun with confusion, but Baekhyun only looks away.

“So when do I get to join the field team?” Jongdae asks instead.

“Maybe in a little bit,” answers Chanyeol. “You probably need to take some hand-to-hand combat before going out, you’re a bit scrawny.”

Jongdae pokes Chanyeol’s side and they all laugh, except Baekhyun.

“Hand-to-hand combat… sounds dangerous.”

“Ah it’s nothing, Baek-”

Before he can finish his sentence, Baekhyun is already standing up and putting his plate away. He briskly walks out of the cafeteria, and Jongdae immediately follows.

 

Jongdae catches up to Baekhyun in front of their bedroom doors and grabs his wrist to stop him.

“What is wrong with you?”

“There’s nothing wrong with me.”

“Baekhyun, why won’t you talk to me anymore?”

Baekhyun yanks his hand away and squares himself.

“Are you going to do it?”

Jongdae is confused.

“Are you going to try and do field work?”

“Yeah, why not? If I can save something with my magic, then yeah, I’m gonna do it.”

Baekhyun scoffs. “Save someone. You always wanted to be a hero.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Jongdae takes a step back.

“You want to be a hero so badly, to save someone instead of hurting someone that you can’t even see they’re using you. They’re turning you into a weapon and you can’t even see it.” Baekhyun spits the last part out with venom he didn’t know he had.

Jongdae freezes. Then his body shakes with rage. “Byun Baekhyun, what are you on?”

“These are our friends you’re talking about. Kyungsoo, Chanyeol, Minseo-”

“Of course, of course!” Baekhyun throws his hands in the air. “I’m sure Minseok would love for you to be on the field team with him.”

Jongdae can feel the surge under his skin. “As a matter of fact, I’m sure he’d be supportive and proud of me. Like you should be!”

“Proud of you? For going head first into danger without any clue about what he’s doing?”

“I’m no-”

“For trying to save people when you can’t even save yourself?”

“Stop it, Baek-”

“I’m telling you right now, it would be a stupid decision to-”

“Stop making decisions for me!” Jongdae shouts over Baekhyun.

Around them, a curtain is on fire, and the light fixtures have all blown off.

“For you?” whispers Baekhyun. What about decisions for us?

“If you want to make decisions for only yourself,” Baekhyun’s eyes sweep the hallway, taking the damage in. “Then fine.”

He give Jongdae one last hard look before he disappears behind his door and the click of the lock resonates in Jongdae’s ears.

Jongdae drops to the ground and buries his face in his hands.

“Baekhyun, I just don’t want other kids to go through what we went through.”

Jongdae hears a shuffle behind Baekhyun’s door. He crawls his way to the door and sits against the door.

“Baek-”

“What we had was fine,” comes a whisper.

Jongdae buries his face in his hands once more. “No, no it wasn’t. We stole. We broke into people’s homes and we starved-”

“I’m not ashamed of any of that.” Baekhyun’s voice sounds strained to Jongdae’s ears.

“We had no future, Baekhyun.” Jongdae’s voice is pleading now. “We don’t have to do things alone anymore and they’re taking care of us and we can help others-”

“They’re strangers. We know nothing about them,” comes the curt reply.

Jongdae runs his hands through his hair in exasperation. “We used to be strangers too.”

“We don’t need them.”

“I need them! Kyungsoo and Chanyeol and Minseok and,” Jongdae takes a deep breath, “and you. I need you, Baekhyun.”

“I don’t need them,” he says quietly.

“We could be a family. All of us. It’s just like having brothers, again and-”

Baekhyun gives him a dry and hollow laugh. “I don’t need any more brothers. The last one tried to sell me.”

Jongdae closes his eyes and lets his head fall backward, knocking on the door.

“They wouldn’t. If you trust them, they wouldn’t.”

He hears shuffling from the other side and footsteps walking away from the door.

“Baekhyun, no, no, don’t.”

Jongdae cries at the foot of the door until Junmyeon and Minseok arrive to quell the fire that has eaten away at the opposite wall. Jongdae didn’t even notice the destruction until he’s taken away to the infirmary to check for injuries.

 

And like that, Baekhyun and Jongdae stop talking to each other completely. 

Jongdae continues with his training, eager to prove Baekhyun wrong. He can control his powers, he can use it for good, he can rely on his new friends, his new family. He’s going to do it all, and show Baekhyun that they’re not the monsters and freaks people told them they were. 

And maybe then, Jongdae can snap Baekhyun out of his momentary insanity.

He doesn’t talk to Baekhyun anymore, but he always asks about him. For the longest time, Baekhyun had shut himself in the wing that Jongdae blew up. Junmyeon told him that all the facilities in that wing didn’t work for days afterwards. He is more than mildly concerned. 

At one point, Chanyeol was so tired of Baekhyun’s attitude that he blew down his door to drag him out by his hair. He did blow down the door, but Baekhyun wasn’t inside. Jongdae asks around, but no one knows where he is. Even cameras couldn’t give Jongdae an answer.

Eventually, Jongdae approaches Juhyun on one of her daily visits to the infirmary. Before he can even say anything, she gives him an apologetic smile and shakes her head. Jongdae merely sighs and leaves.

 

And so, Jongdae goes back to training. Junmyeon tells him he does well, but Jongdae knows otherwise. Whenever his thoughts wander to Baekhyun, he can feel himself lose control. But Minseok pats him on the back and Junmyeon gives him a reassuring smile, and Jongdae thinks, maybe I can do this. 

 

There’s a mini celebration when Junmyeon tells Jongdae he can join the next party that goes out for field work. Yixing, who Jongdae visits on a semi-regular basis for bruises, personally goes into the kitchen to make him ramen. It’s a bit salty, but no one has the heart to tell him otherwise. Minseok tells him it’s good, but Jongdae merely tells him it’s okay. When Yixing looks put out, everyone laughs. 

Jongdae looks around at all his laughing friends and stops short when he remembers that he’s missing one person. The most important person. His person. His heart aches for Baekhyun but he smiles brightly when Minseok gives him a look.

Junmyeon catches the exchange and his eyes bore into the back of Juhyun’s head until she looks at him. He gives her a look and she pretends to not see him and ducks aways immediately.

 

She rounds the corner to the infirmary and looks inside to see the lights on in one of the rooms. She sighs. Baekhyun is certainly a creature of habit.

She finds him huddling in a corner of the room, out of sight from the corridor.

“You know, for someone hiding, you are pretty obvious with the lights.”

“I left them on after you and Sooyoung kept complaining about it.”

She smiles and sits down next to him on the floor. “They’ll find you if they see the lights on.” 

He nods. 

“Do you want to be found?”

Baekhyun huffs and sticks out his hand and the lights in the room collect into a small ball of light in his hands. He takes out a lighter and squeezes the light into it. 

Juhyun watches him in fascination. “You’ve improved. How did you know you could do that?”

Baekhyun just shrugs and hands the lighter to Juhyun. Juhyun pockets the lighter and turns to Baekhyun.

“You know, you should go see him before he leaves for field work tomorrow.”

“Why should I? He doesn’t need me.”

“You could tell him good luck and-”

“I thought this one was supposed to be a piece of cake. You said it was one of the more simpler tasks.”

Juhyun sighs, “It is but it doesn’t hurt to see him for a bit.”

“Actually it does.” 

Baekhyun doesn’t meet Juhyun’s eyes. He simply stands up and walks out of the room.

 

The next day, Junmyeon gathers up the field team for a briefing. Jongdae thinks it’s simple enough, get in, grab the kid, get out, don’t let anyone see you do magic. Easy. Except Jongdae’s hands still quiver and his stomach feels like a million knots.

Junmyeon pats his shoulder. “Don’t worry Jongdae, it’s nothing. Just follow my lead and Chanyeol and Tao will be beside you and Minseok has our backs.”

Junmyeon nods his head in Minseok’s direction and Minseok smiles back. He nods towards Jongdae and Jongdae feels a bit better. 

As they’re leaving, Jongdae waves Juhyun and Yixing goodbye. His smile wavers when he notices that Baekhyun isn’t there, but he shakes it off. It will be fine and he can come back and prove Baekhyun wrong. As Jongin starts teleporting them away, through the black smoke he thinks he sees the lights flicker and his hopes soar. It will be alright.

 

Except that it isn’t.

The moment they get there, Jongdae feels uneasy. There’s about three seconds before all hell breaks loose. He isn’t sure what’s happening, but he hears Tao scream.

“Run!”

And he bolts. He isn’t even sure where he’s running but Junmyeon is in front of him and suddenly Jongdae sees red everywhere. 

It’s a trap.

Jongdae tries to change his trajectory but the red suited men are too close. Suddenly he slips on ice and manages to dodge the first round of bullets from their guns. When he stands up, he realizes that he ended up actually very far away from where most of the combat is taking place. There’s fire and smoke everywhere so it’s hard to see but Jongdae’s eyes follow the ice on the ground. 

In the chaos, Jongdae looks up from the ice to see a gun pointed at Minseok. Fear washes over him. His hand reaches out. Jongdae feels the need to get to Minseok travel from his bones, from the bottom of his soles to the top of his head. He needs to get to Minseok, now. He needs to save him. Like how his own brother saved him. Like how Baekhyun has been saving him. This time, just this once, Jongdae thinks, let me be the one to save someone I love.

As if in slow motion, Jongdae sees the lightning bolt leave his fingertips like a claw ready to snatch Minseok away. Before he knows it, the bolt has reached the man threatening Minseok. Before he realizes what he's doing, he sees the bolt splinter off like cracks in a glass. It's already happened before he can stop it. In horror, he sees the lightening bolt hit not only the man, but also Minseok. He sees the whole area struck down by his bolts.

Frantically he pulls it the bolts back to him. He tries to imagine them as strings that he's pulling back to himself, winding up to be stored away. He tries, but then he sees Minseok fall to his knees. He hears an anguished scream. He sees Joonmyun rushing to catch Minseok. Minseok, whose body hangs heavy in Joonmyun's arms. Joonmyun, whose face in that one moment showed more true emotion than Jongdae thought he was capable. And he loses it.

Jongdae feels all his energy, his electricity all at once and then not at all.

 

Baekhyun looks up from the boxes of bandages Yixing told him to put away when a siren blares through the intercom. He hurriedly puts the boxes down and runs into the main area of the infirmary.

He sees Yixing running, so he quickly matches his pace.

“Is there a fire? This is a fire alarm right?” His heart races when Yixing doesn’t answer him.

They both stop when the double doors burst open and Chanyeol is flying in with his phoenix form. He stops right in front of Yixing and Baekhyun and falls to his knees, his flames disappearing. In his arms is the body of a boy.

Before anyone can stop him, Baekhyun yanks Jongdae out of Chanyeol’s arms. 

One look at Jongdae in his arms and Baekhyun’s heart stops in his chest. 

Jongdae’s tattered clothes fall away from his body when Baekhyun shifts him to look at his face. Every hair singed right off and there’s soot and ash all over his body. 

In the background, Chanyeol tries to explain to Yixing what happened, but in his daze, Baekhyun can only make out “trap”.

It was a trap and they were stupid enough to walk right into it. Baekhyun can feel a searing white hot anger start in his head.

Chanyeol stops mid-sentence when the lights start to get brighter in the room.

Alarmed, Yixing reaches for Baekhyun only to be scorched by his hand.

“Baekhyun!” There are various voices now, and Baekhyun can’t seem to discern who they belong to anymore. His heartbeat drums in his ears and his vision starts to white out.

“Baekhyun, Baekhyun, stop!” There’s shuffling. “Gods damn it, Baekhyun, we need you to be calm!”

“Turn down the lights, Baek-”

“Let me see Jongdae, Baek-”

“No!”

Baekhyun backs up until he hits a wall, and pulls Jongdae closer to his own body. The lights in the room get even brighter. Baekhyun sees silhouettes of people on the ground, hiding their heads, shielding their eyes.

Except Chanyeol. He reverts back to his phoenix form with desperation in his eyes. 

Chanyeol’s flaming figure attempts to crawl closer to Baekhyun and reaches out for him. He stops in his track when Baekhyun shoots a beam of light right at his feet and the ground there starts to crumble.

“Damn it, Baek. Please calm down, I know it looks bad, but if you just-”

“No!” Baekhyun refuses to believe anything he says. Look what they’ve done.

Yixing’s clear voice rings out from the whiteness, “If you just let me put him in a capsule, we can-”

“No!” comes again. This time, Baekhyun doesn’t recognize his own voice. It seems to come from somewhere outside of him.

Chanyeol’s deep voice growls, “Baek, you need to let us help him.”

“No. You’ve all helped him enough. We don’t need you. I don't need you!” roars Baekhyun. His eyes light up now. “I just need him! Only him.”

He turns to the charred boy in his arms. Tears stream down his face. He starts rocking Jongdae back and forth in his arms, calling his name.

“Jongdae…” he chokes out. He turns Jongdae’s face towards his own.

“I need you,” he begs. “Wake up, please. You're the only one... only one I... Please wake up.”

No movement came from the boy. Desperately, Baekhyun cradles Jongdae's face with both of his hands and leans closer. He presses his forehead to Jongdae’s in an attempt somehow transfer the words in his head to Jongdae.

In a small voice, he says to him, “You're my only one, Jongdae, please.”

And yet still, Jongdae didn’t stir.

Baekhyun lets out an anguished roar and the entire room whites out.

 

“I always knew the Baekhyun could do more than turn lights on and off.” Chanyeol grumbles at Kyungsoo who is putting bandages on him. “Didn’t think he could do lasers though.”

“He also has a phoenix form too. Or well, something like it.” Kyungsoo muses as he wraps Chanyeol’s arm. “So what happened after?”

Chanyeol shakes his head. “I don’t know. There was a burst of light and I couldn’t see for a moment and then they were gone.”

“The light is still there though.” Kyungsoo points out.

“Leftover magic. He flooded the entire infirmary in light and now no one can go in there without sunglasses.” He shakes his head again. “Gods, if only I could have got through to him sooner, then we’d know that he could do all these things and…”

Kyungsoo sighs.

 

“Still haven’t found them yet, huh?”

Junmyeon turns to Jongin from where he’s sitting beside Minseok’s bed. Jongin gravely shakes his head as he takes in Minseok’s unconscious state. Junmyeon follows his eyes and sighs. “Hey, go take a break. Everyone else has been bandaged and everything, so you can take a break.”

Jongin looks at Junmyeon guiltily, but Junmyeon just shakes his head. “It’s not your fault, we all made an error. Just rest, okay?”

Jongin sighs, takes a lingering glance at Minseok, and teleports away.

“Juhyun?”

“Yeah?” Juhyun stands at the doorway to Minseok’s room and watches as Junmyeon slowly bring his head down to rest in his hands. Her heart aches at the scene.

“Don’t play dumb with me. You know where he is.”

Juhyun bites down on her bottom lip. “I might. I’m not completely sure.”

“Could you- could you just make sure that they’re okay?” Junmyeon’s voice sounds weary. After all the events of yesterday, Junmyeon is still trying to keep things together. Juhyun can’t bear to look any longer.

“Seulgi and Sooyoung will come by later to check on Minseok.” Junmyeon doesn’t say anything, only a slight movement of his head to show that he’s heard.

Juhyun sighs and leaves.

 

Juhyun arrives to the infirmary with sunglasses in tow and sees Yixing scrambling around, getting supplies onto a cart. He stops when he sees her and raises an eyebrow from behind his own sunglasses in question.

She gestures towards the room with the capsules, and he doesn’t understand, but he follows her anyways.

Every inch of the infirmary may be swathed with light but the room with the capsules in particular is hard to see in. Even with sunglasses, both Juhyun and Yixing can only see whiteness.

“Baekhyun, why are you hiding here?”

She says it pointedly at an empty chair and capsule. Yixing turns to her, confused. He’s about to take her temperature until out of the corner of his eye, he sees a strange shimmer where Juhyun is staring at.

He stares directly at it now and notices something strange about the space. He blinks a couple of times and Baekhyun appears in the seat. He blinks a second time and sees Jongdae in the capsule.

“What in the world- bending lightwaves...you can bend the ligh-”

“How did you know I was here?” 

“I hazarded a guess. And I knew I was right when I saw the monitor.”

Yixing looks at the monitor, expecting something miraculous, but he can’t find anything amiss. He looks at Juhyun and at Baekhyun again, waiting for an explanation. Exasperated, he comes closer to the monitor. Baekhyun flinches when he’s within arm’s reach.

“What is it? I don’t get it?” He clicks the buttons on the monitor but it shows the same reading. “Oh, the screen froze.”

Juhyun lets out a long sigh and says, “No, it’s working. It’s just that time stopped.”

Yixing and Baekhyun stare at her.

“In the capsule, time stopped in the capsule.” She gestures towards where Jongdae lies with the minuscule specks floating about him. Except that the specks are not whirling at they usually are, but are still, in suspension.

“I don’t get it,” says Baekhyun dumbly.

Yixing raises his hand and says, “I don’t either?”

“Tao’s magic isn’t strong enough yet to stop time completely and if you loo-”

“I can’t magic time, Juhyun. Light. All I can do is light.”

Yixing carefully lays a hand on Baekhyun’s shoulder. “Let us help you.”

Baekhyun laughs. “What can you possibly do? I’ve already hooked him into the machine. You can see for yourself. His mind is going crazy. The electricity overloaded it and his body… his body is barely hanging on. How can you help? What can you possibly do?”

Yixing frowns and looks at Juhyun for an answer.

“Look, Baekhyun, the three of us here, we can save him.”

“Don’t make me laugh. I can turn on the lights and Yixing might be able to heal bruises, but he can’t possibly fix all this. And you?” He turns towards Juhyun and hiccups. “Do you even have magic?”

Yixing gasps. “How could you? Of course she has magic!”

“I’ve never seen it.” Baekhyun says accusingly.

Yixing cocks his head to one side, “Most latent magic isn’t visible to the blind eye.”

“What.”

“Latent magic. Like how Kyungsoo always beats you at wrestling?” Yixing offers by way of explanation.

“I just thought he was abnormally strong.”

Yixing and Juhyun laugh. Baekhyun brings a palm to his face. “Because he is abnormally strong.”

“Yes his latent magic is strength.” Juhyun confirms.

“And yours?” Baekhyun narrows his eyes at Juhyun.

She smiles at him and simply says, “Calm.”

“What.” His mouth hangs ajar. “That doesn’t make any sense, how do you-”

“Seulgi said something about oxytocin and pheromones coupled with magic”, Yixing offers.

Baekhyun’s head starts to hurt. He feels like it gets more complicated every time he asks and it’s just not getting to the point. Juhyun clears her throat to get his attention.

Baekhyun looks up at her to see her pointing to the lights. “It, um, got a bit hot in here for a second.”

“Anyways, I know you’re getting impatient so hear me out. Like I was saying earlier, Tao’s magic isn’t strong enough to completely stop time yet, but if you look here” She gestures towards the monitor “and here” she points towards the capsule, “you can see that time is stopped.”

Yixing seems to get it before Baekhyun. He looks at Baekhyun with a smile.

“It’s you, Baekhyun. I don’t know how but I think you might have a latent magic that can enhance that of other people’s.”

“I’m sorry, I don’t get what you’re saying. You sound like a complicated RPG game.”

Yixing tries to make a comment about “RPG” and “game” but Juhyun cuts him off. “Baekhyun, if you learn to use your latent magic, you can help us help Jongdae.”

Baekhyun turns his whole body around to face her. 

“Yixing can heal his body and I might be able to calm his mind.”

“Ambitious, Juhyun.” Yixing comments.

“Thank you.” Juhyun smiles at Yixing and they both turn to Baekhyun.

“Come on, Baekhyun. Trust me. Trust us. We’re trying to help, everyone is.”

Baekhyun looks from Juhyun to Yixing and reluctantly dims all the light in the infirmary. He figures that his fear has hurt enough people. Maybe, just maybe, he can redeem himself a little bit if he can at the very least save Jongdae. Maybe he’d be less of a monster if he could save even one person, especially if that person is Jongdae.

 

Once the infirmary is brought back to its former state, the first thing that happens is that Kyungsoo and Chanyeol sweep Baekhyun up in a hug. Then Kyungsoo lets Chanyeol punch Baekhyun. Baekhyun sputters indignantly and looks to Juhyun and Yixing, but they both pretend to not have seen it. 

Baekhyun mutters something about “traitors” until Chanyeol blows up on him about his selfish attitude. He gets an earful, and he bites down his snappy comments because he knows he’s right. If only he trusted them at the beginning, then maybe, maybe none of this would’ve happened.

After that, Chanyeol works with Baekhyun to draw out his latent magic and Baekhyun puts his all into it. It takes a couple of months, but eventually Baekhyun gets it right.

 

Finally the day comes to try healing Jongdae. They have to act with perfect teamwork if it’s to work. Baekhyun starts off by drawing out his light and channeling it into Yixing. Tao removes the Sand from the capsule slowly at certain parts of Jongdae’s body while Yixing heals them. Yixing moves slowly, healing the easier parts of Jongdae’s body first. Slowly, his hair grows back, and all the cracks in his skin smooth out. On the outside, Jongdae looks fine, but internally there’s still a lot of healing left.

Baekhyun passes out the first day.

The second day comes, and despite Junmyeon’s insistence, Baekhyun wants to continue the healing. And so they continues on with the same procedure. Each day Baekhyun passes out, and Juhyun worries that Baekhyun is pushing himself too hard. On the fifth day, Juhyun give Baekhyun a large dose of her calming magic and knocks him out. 

He’s furious when he wakes up, but he could never get mad at Juhyun. When they try again on the seventh day, Yixing finally finishes. 

Baekhyun wants to push on, and have Juhyun calm his mind as well, but this time Yixing is the one who knocks him out. And not with magic.

When he wakes up, Kyungsoo insists that he go outside and relax for awhile, take a couple of days to recharge. When he refuses, Kyungsoo drags him outside. Chanyeol and Tao laugh as they trail behind them with picnic baskets.

 

Finally, Yixing and Juhyun lets Baekhyun back into the infirmary. Jongdae no longer lays in the capsule but on a regular bed, still hooked to a monitor. Baekhyun can see his heart beating fine but the lines of his mind is a jumble.

Juhyun smiles at Baekhyun as he charges up. He passes his ball of light to Juhyun and in her hands, it immediately turns pink. She carefully maneuvers it to Jongdae’s head and holds it there. Baekhyun stares anxiously from Jongdae to Juhyun to the monitor. Slowly the spikes in the lines start to shrink, and eventually, Juhyun takes her hands away. Yixing leads her over to a chair to rest and Baekhyun eagerly takes the one closest to Jongdae. He takes Jongdae’s hand into his and waits for his eyes to open. Five minutes pass, and then another. 

Eventually, Yixing takes Juhyun back to her room and leaves Baekhyun there with Jongdae.

Hours pass and Jongdae doesn’t so much as stir. Baekhyun keeps waiting.

 

He doesn’t know when he falls asleep but when he wakes up it’s already six in the morning the next day. Jongdae is still in the same state he was the day before.

Frustrated, Baekhyun gets up and pulls his chair closer to Jongdae. He grabs a hold of Jongdae’s hand and brings it close to his heart. 

He leans in close to Jongdae’s ear and whispers, “Hey, Jongdae, it’s me Baekhyun.” Jongdae doesn’t respond, and he feels like an idiot but he keeps talking.

“Look, I’m sorry, Jongdae. I was an idiot. I- I knew you were right and I was just so angry and hurt and- and- jealous that I couldn’t think straight. I know, I know now that we can trust them. I mean, hell Chanyeol pulled you out of a fire and brought you back even when he wasn’t any better and Yixing was at his wit’s end trying to heal you and Junmyeon and Minseok visit everyday to make sure you’re okay, and Kyungsoo and Juhyun make sure I’m not a complete mess, and- and-” He takes a deep breath.

“And they all love us so much Jongdae. They love us even though you almost killed everyone and I almost killed them a second time. They still love us, Jongdae. You were right.”

Baekhyun chokes on the next words. “Family, Jongdae. They’re like family. But Jongdae, it’s not complete without you. You told me you needed me once. Jongdae, I need you too.”

Tears threaten to fall down Baekhyun’s face as he leans in close to Jongdae, lips almost brushing his. He whispers, “You’re part of my family, Jongdae. You’re more than that too. I- I-” He lets out a breath.

“I love you.” Baekhyun presses his lips to Jongdae’s.

When he pulls back, he sees that nothing has changed.

He falls back into his chair with disappointment. He sees a movement by the door and look up to see Sooyoung carrying a tray of food. She blushes and quickly sets the food down for Baekhyun.

“I- I really thought that would work.” She says. “Like in fairy tales.”

Baekhyun laughs a little at that and said, “I thought so too.”

When Sooyung leaves, Baekhyun turns to the plate of food and picks at the bacon on his plate. He starts nibbling at the end of one piece when he hears coughing.

The bacon falls from his mouth as he turns around quickly to face the coughing. The coughing that is coming from Jongdae. Baekhyun yelps in a pitch so high, sopranos would be jealous. Jongdae winces at the sound and coughs some more.

Baekhyun hurriedly presses the red button on the side of the bed, and then flings himself at Jongdae.

“Bae-”

Baekhyun happily helps Jongdae sit up and he hastily brings his orange juice to Jongdae’s lips. Jongdae drinks for awhile before he starts coughing again.

“Bae-”

Baekhyun clasps his hands eagerly around Jongdae’s own.

“Bacon.”

Baekhyun’s mouth falls open and he can hear Junmyeon and Chanyeol howling with laughter in the background.

He throws Jongdae’s hand down and Jongdae chuckles until he gets into another coughing fit. Baekhyun decides to not help him this time, only to earn a smack on the head from Kyungsoo, who takes over orange juice duties.

Baekhyun whines pathetically while rubbing his sore head, but he turns back to watch Kyungsoo help Jongdae and smiles. Jongdae finishes the orange juice and smiles back at Baekhyun. He hooks a finger around one of Baekhyun’s own, and they smile stupidly at each other for a moment. Jongdae ruins it by pointing forlornly at the bacon. Baekhyun throws a pillow in his face and stomps out as Jongdae wails.

Baekhyun runs into Juhyun and Minseok on the way out and grabs them both in a big hug. Minseok laughs into his hair and Juhyun’s smile is brighter than he’s ever seen it.

 

Three Months Later

There’s a knock on the window of the infirmary. Baekhyun looks up from the box of bandages he was putting away to see Jongdae sporting a Cheshire Cat grin from the other side of the glass. His eyes crinkle in a smile and he tidies up the medical tools he was using. Time to leave, Baekhyun celebrates in the back of his mind. After a full day of cleaning cuts, putting on salve and bandaging people up, Baekhyun is glad to leave for the day.

In particular because he’s taking Jongdae out today. Last week, he went back to the pizza shop to get his paycheck. The boss didn’t ask any questions, but just gave him a small nod.

With the extra money, Baekhyun decided to take Jongdae shopping for a new shirt. Jongdae excitedly asked if Baekhyun was finally taking Jongdae out on a date, and Baekhyun was too surprised to say no. The answer wouldn’t have been no anyways. 

And so they go on their first date in which Baekhyun pays for Jongdae’s new pink shirt, and ice cream, and movie. Jongdae is so happy, Baekhyun can’t even complain about the money. 

When they get back, Jongdae stands in ridiculous poses to show off his pink shirt to everyone. Minseok comments to Junmyeon next to him that Jongdae now has matching shirt and socks. Juhyun laughs and proclaims that she loves it. (Baekhyun finds out later that Jongdae and Juhyun both have an affinity for pink overall.) Chanyeol calls Jongdae a piglet and Kyungsoo calls Baekhyun whipped.

Baekhyun would be more affronted if not for the fact that Jongdae has flung himself at Baekhyun and is laughing so brightly, Baekhyun gets distracted. Everyone laughs along with the couple and Baekhyun takes a moment to imprint this in his memories because he’d never thought he’d be this happy. Happy and safe with people that he loves and a boy that loves him. Jongdae was right, but Baekhyun won’t admit it to him just yet.

 

Later that night, when they’re about to go to sleep, Jongdae snuggles close to Baekhyun and gives him a kiss as a thank you. Baekhyun stills at the kiss so Jongdae kisses him again, to make sure it registers. Baekhyun laughs into the kiss and pulls Jongdae closer, until their entire bodies are touching, no distance in between. He kisses him back.

As they both fall asleep, Jongdae muses that if home is where the heart is, now they’ve both finally reached home.

**Author's Note:**

> If anyone was wondering where Sehun is, he’s the boy they were supposed to pick up. Haha. Also Seungwan got cut from the story due to time constraints. 
> 
> There was actually more I wanted to write for this, but I wanted to make the deadline so I there were some scenes cut out. Maybe I'll do like a "director's cut" version someday.
> 
> Until then, I hope you all enjoyed it! 
> 
> Thank you again to gloomvalleys for the prompt! I hope you and everyone else enjoyed it!


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